Just happens to be the father of a Worcester police officer.

Thomas G Foley
4 Stoneham Rd
Worcester, MA 01604-3430
(508) 753-0449

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090623/COLUMN01/906230364

Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com

Lisa Tuttle?s cat had just given birth to a litter when the man came
walking down Dupuis Avenue with his dog.

Ms. Tuttle suspects that the otherwise-docile feline was feeling
territorial when she spotted the Irish setter, which is why it ran
toward the dog June 14 and tried to attack it.

The dog?s owner, meanwhile, tried to shield his pet behind his legs. The
cat scratched the man, who went home and called police. He also called
Ms. Tuttle, who told him it was unlikely that her cat had rabies and
that it was doubtful he?d contract it from a simple scratch, anyway.

?He told me that he might have to get a series of rabies shots, and that
they cost a lot of money,? Ms. Tuttle said. ?He said he was going to see
his doctor. He kept talking about money. I told him I was sorry, but
that the cat was probably being protective of her babies. The
conversation ended with nothing bad.?

She never heard from him again until Friday, when the man returned with
his dog to Dupuis Avenue. And, in front of at least one adult and four
horrified children who had been playing on the quiet dead-end street, he
proceeded to beat the cat to death with a stick, according to witnesses.

?My 7-year-old came in crying and screaming, ?The man killed Lily, the
man killed Lily!? ? recounted a tearful Ms. Tuttle. ?I ran outside and
found Lily in the street, lying in a pool of blood.?

Mary Pepper, who lives across the street from Ms. Tuttle, said she
opened her window when she heard children screaming outside.

?He beat the cat with a stick until the stick broke,? said Ms. Pepper.
?He kept yelling, ?Whose cat is this? Whose cat is this?? There was a
lot of blood. He was enraged. And the kids were all watching, absolutely
horrified. I was shouting out the window, ?What do you think you?re
doing?? It was very scary.?

The man, Thomas Foley of Stoneham Road, called police after he killed
the cat and told officers that he was acting in self-defense.

?He said the cat came after him again, so he hit the cat with the stick
to protect himself,? said Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst, reading from the police
report.

Lily, a black and white 1-year-old, weighed seven pounds.

Ms. Pepper said the cat was typically calm and friendly and a favorite
of neighborhood children.

After Mr. Foley killed the cat, he began to walk home. Ms. Tuttle
acknowledged that she jumped in her car, caught up with Mr. Foley and
punched him in the face. According to the police report, Mr. Foley
declined to pursue assault charges.

?He just walked off like it was nothing,? Ms. Tuttle said. ?He came with
the deliberate intention of killing my cat. He doesn?t even live on this
street.?

Stoneham Road is one street away from Dupuis, which is off Massasoit
Road.

Ms. Tuttle didn?t know Mr. Foley?s name when she went to the police
station yesterday to get a copy of the police report. A clerk refused to
provide it and said it would be mailed. Ms. Tuttle went to the
courthouse and tried to get a restraining order but failed, because she
has no relationship with Mr. Foley. She said she?s contacted several
animal rights groups and plans to file an application for a criminal
complaint.

?I can?t let this go,? said Ms. Tuttle, who buried Lily in the backyard.
?I close my eyes at night and see my cat lying in a pool of blood. My
daughter is afraid to go outside and play. I can?t believe he did that
in front of my kids. It was so malicious. I don?t want this man to get
away with this. It?s not right.?

Mr. Foley did not return messages left yesterday on his answering
machine and with a man who answered the phone and identified himself as
Mr. Foley?s son.

Sgt. Hazelhurst said he didn?t anticipate that police would file charges
against either party.

?His defense will be that he was defending himself and that it happened
before,? Sgt. Hazelhurst said. ?It will be up to the courts.?